2001 Walter Barnard Hill Awards for Distinguished Achievement in University Public Service & Outreach

P. Elizabeth Pate

As an associate professor in the Department of Elementary Education, Middle School Program, P. Elizabeth Pate has an exemplary record of scholarship and teaching within the world of public service and outreach. She defines public service and outreach as “the application of academic skills to solving real-life problems in the community,” and teaches undergraduate and graduate students using service learning.

Through 120 service-learning projects, Pate has worked with some 6,000 public school and university students, educators and community members. She has earned 35 funded or co-funded grant awards and project-related activities for a total of $523,000. Her work has been recognized through 10 University and national awards in teaching, research, and service. Most recently, she was designated as one of the top faculty leaders in the country for the “Thomas Ehrlich Faculty Award for University Faculty Committed to Enhancing Service Learning in Higher Education” for 2000. Also in 2000, she was honored by Campus Compact as one of the nation’s “Top Ten” college and university faculty committed to enhancing service learning in higher education.

An example of her work involves a collaboration between two different colleges on a project called “Art and Education Partnership: Documenting Oglethorpe County Folklore.” This project has become part of the Oglethorpe County Middle School’s “Virtual Folklore Museum,” was a “1999 Laureate Award Winner,” and is part of the Permanent Research Collection on Information Technology at the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. George Dougherty, an assistant superintendent of Oglethorpe County Schools, writes that “…Elizabeth has been a major influence on our school’s becoming a ‘Georgia School of Excellence’ and the recipient of the state and national recognition….She has encouraged us to publish, to present at conferences, and to continue our own education”

At The University of Georgia, Pare advises professors from the School of Law, the College of Veterinary Medicine, the College of Arts and Sciences, and the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences regarding the integration of service-learning activities. Her knowledge of service learning has earned her a courtesy appointment in the Institute of Ecology where she is currently team-teaching a series of service-learning courses in environmental education. She also serves on the Leadership Certificate Advisory Committee for the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. Furthermore, she has assumed a leadership role in the preparation of the proposal Office for Civic Engagement designed to connect University of Georgia students, faculty, and staff with local, national, and international communities.

In 1999, Pate designed and taught the only undergraduate/graduate course at the University specifically devoted to service learning. The first two courses resulted in more than 64 projects involving more than 2,000 students, teachers, and community members in service-learning activities in Georgia. She currently teaches a grant-funded, service-learning course for Stephens County, Georgia. She is instructing 10 lead teachers who will then serve as mentors for the entire school system of 283 teachers and 1,600 students.

In beginning her work with Clarke County, she realized that she did not know the needs of her students. She completed an internship with the Athens-Clarke County Police Department, spending 40 hours patrolling North Athens and the Iron Triangle during the 3-11 an midnight-7 shifts. This helped her to identify community needs and to better conceptualize appropriate curricular and instructional strategies for middle-school students.